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Officials said the drill wasn't in reaction to the Lansdowne case in which a boy died and three others were injured falling through thin ice more than a week ago. They said it's a part of regular training to keep their emergency responders ready for action.

"They're going to go into open water. They're going to slide up (to the hole) with a nice, even weight distribution," said Fire Chief James Wallace of how his men train for falls through ice.

The command members did their training at Loch Raven Reservoir. The day included simulated rescues and self-rescue techniques.

"Obviously, it's weather dependent. The weather's been good for this, so we do have a good build-up of ice. We're going to yield from this 60 ice rescue technicians in our department," Wallace said.

Many have been through the training before, but it was a first for others.

"Basically (the ice) is going to look like it's thick and can support your weight, but you can drop through at any minute," said firefighter Bill Klima.

"We didn't just do this because of the unfortunate events. We've been doing this since 2009," said ice rescue instructor Lt. Stephen Karas. "Basically, it's to protect our people so they can rescue others."

That means being comfortable in the water and knowing exactly how to use their suits to keep them buoyant, warm and dry. During one exercise, a rescuer could be seen squeezing air out of his suit while in the ice hole.

"That's a good example of having to actually burp the suit -- let the air and the air pressure out of the suit," Wallace explained.

He described the use of ice picks built into the suits to help hoist the rescuers onto the ice.

"This is difficult. He's climbing and has nothing underneath his body to actually get a push with, to be able to push off the bottom. It's upper body strength," Wallace said while watching the firefighter practice. "He's pulling himself out, kicks his feet, barrel rolls away from the opening in the ice, gets to an area where it's stable, and he's back on his feet."

It looked effortless for some but was quite a bit more difficult for the newbies, 11 News reporter Jennifer Franciotti said. They're skills the rescuers may never have to use but can call upon like a reflex when needed.